8 Letters
by Lady Althena
Summary: If Aerith has one regret that she hadn't done in the upperworld while she was living, it was to tell that 8-letter word to the man she loves the most. But what if she was given a second chance to this one thing or even more? Will she take it? A CloudxAerith fan fiction.
1. Chapter 1: A Maiden's Wish

**A/N: **The story takes place after FFVII: Advent Children, where Geostigma was healed and peace reigns to the planet. This is also a Clerith fanfiction. 3 I'm so hyped with the recent teaser release of the remake so I can't help but to write a fanfiction! Reviews and story follows are greatly appreciated!

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**Chapter 1: A Maiden's Wish**

Aerith was drifting through the lifestream. Waves of memories from people who died were floating around her. As she drifted further, she noticed a different glow that separated from the waves. Intrigued, she inspected closer.

She could see a figure of a small white dragon-like creature in a fetal position. She shivered to have seen something like this amidst of the lifestream. And even more, as she noticed the chains that were wrapped on the creature.

_Poor thing… _Aerith thought to herself. She couldn't help but to rushed into it and help it unchain. Without any difficulty, Aerith went into the glowing matter and was able to get near the creature. The moment her hand touched the chains, it entangled itself.

_Whoa. What did I just do? _Aerith was in awe to see what she just did. The creature was slowly waking up. Its moving an inch; its eyes were gently opening. Aerith gasped, "B-beautiful.. those were beautiful eyes."

The small dragon-like creature had a pair of blue sparkling eyes. And they were looking straight at Aerith. "Thank you, young woman." The creature spoke to Aerith as if it didn't belong the lifestream.

Aerith was gazing at the creature completely speechless.

"You must be a Cetra." The creature had a low deep voice that would make you shiver.

"Yes…I am." Aerith answered. This gave her a faint explanation of what was happening. But she wanted to know more.

"I am a lifestream guardian chained by an unknown entity." The creature was trying to enlightened Aerith who wore a very puzzled look, "An entity formed by corrupted souls lurking in the lifestream."

"You...were chained?" Aerith asked.

"Yes. There were a lot of corrupted souls in the lifestream. Scrios is one of them."

"Who is this Scrios?" Aerith was intrigued to know more.

"Scrios wanted to break free so he roam to corrupt as many souls as he can." The creature was gritting between its teeth in anger, "I honestly don't know how and why it came to this, I was caught off guard."

"Oh…"

"I'm still not sure but there's a high probability that he did this, with a powerful companion. I saw someone with him, a silver haired man."

Someone popped into Aerith's mind. It was not far from truth that the merciless Sephiroth can do something like this.

"But thanks to you… I was saved." The creature continued, "You truly are a gift. A cetra."

Aerith blushed. She was being praised for what she had done.

"Only a cetra with a pure heart can break through the barrier and unchain me."

Aerith smiled. "You're welcome. Anyone who have seen you will do the same." A cetra with a pure heart. These phrase made her happy.

"Let me repay your kindness," the creature said in serious tone, "Is there anything I can do that your heart desires?"

_Anything that my heart desires? _The thought sparkle in Aerith's eyes. There's only one thing she wanted to do - to see Cloud. So she can tell him the words she left unsaid, hear him speak, and do many things together. If only she could ever live again in the upper world.

"You know that you can't hide your thoughts here in the lifestream, right?", Aerith's train of thought came to a halt, "Unfortunately, what your heart desires is quite impossible."

"I know." Aerith knew that she was wishing for an impossible thing. But she couldn't help but to think of these thoughts as these are what she had always longed for.

"I, however, can make an exception." The creature firmly stated. "I owe you one and won't be able to speak as I do now if it weren't for you."

A sudden gush of joy reflected to Aerith's eyes.

"I will grant just as what your heart desired." Aerith's sparkling eyes widened, "In two conditions…"

_Conditions?_ Impossible wishes that were granted usually came with a price. Aerith gulped and waited for what the creature would say.

"One, the person you'll want to see must affirm he wants to see you too." This might look easy as Aerith is pretty confident that if that's the case, then she's sure Cloud wanted to see her too. "That means, he will come to me and say he wanted to see you."

That when things got hard. How can the Cloud she knew would say something like that? The Cloud she knew would keep everything to himself.

"How can he come to you?" Aerith was clueless of the creature's plan.

"I must go to the upper world where I'll open a portal for you. The portal will be opened the moment the first condition was met."

"The second condition is," the creature continued, "The moment you tell him you love him, you will have to return to the lifestream."

And just like that, the joy that reflected to Aerith's face turned to sadness. She won't be able to say her feelings to Cloud after all.

"There are reasons why I have these conditions. There's a limit of what I can do." The creature humbly added. It noticed how the joy turned to sadness in Aerith's eyes.

"I need a balance waves of desires from the lifestream and upper world in order to open this portal for you. And this portal has level of limitations. What your heart desires is to tell him how you feel, which is the main reason of opening the portal. Once this is fulfilled, the portal will then have to close."

"This is a really kind offer." Aerith said in a sad tone. This was not a bad deal actually. She just had to keep the conditions in mind. The desire to see Cloud and be able to be with him again is greater.

"Please do it. I'm accepting this." Aerith firmly accepted the offer and was hopeful of the future ahead.

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**A/N: **I hope you like the first chapter! I'm currently writing the second chapter so if you like it, be sure to follow the story. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Thank you!


	2. Chapter 2: Mysterious Offer

_**A/N:**_ Hey everyone! Here's the chapter 2. This is a CloudxAerith fan fic but I want to be fair with all CloudxTifa fans so I'm trying my best to make them all in character based on the original game, official novels and movie. :) I have also two OCs here to make the story possible. I hope you enjoy~

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**Chapter 2: Mysterious Offer**

The speedometer gauge in Cloud's Fenrir was slowly rising as he traveled from Midgar to Kalm with a delivery slip in his pocket.

Client Name: Sebastian Wilson

Delivery Item: Turbo Ether

Destination: Kalm Town

Cloud has been running the Strife Delivery Service with the help of his childhood friend, Tifa. Cloud was moving on with all of the pain and tragedy that happened with his life. He was enjoying this new venture but he knew there would always be that hole in his heart.

As he got near to his destination, he caught a glimpse of a bright blue glow that grew slowly from the sky. A light wave was emanating from the glow and was going toward the Kalm town. This made Cloud worried so he rushed to the town.

_Now...now...I must find an upper world body to use._ The creature who was granting Aerith's wish, the lifestream guardian, said to itself. The light wave passed by the town's entrance and to the inn which was just located to the left side of it. A young woman who looked like an adventurer was just about to go outside of the inn when suddenly she felt a strange sensation throughout her body and eventually lost consciousness. The town people immediately gathered and examined what happened to her.

Cloud who just entered the town noticed this and asked a nearby town person. "What happened?"

"I-I don't know. We saw a bright glow in the sky and the next thing we knew was this girl who lost consciousness here."

Cloud encountered all kinds of strange things but this one looked different. He paced toward the unconscious woman and felt an odd aura within her, it was as if she was not from this world. The young woman was about 5'2" in height, with a pale skin, light ash brown long hair with straight bangs covering her forehead. She was also wearing a fancy clothing. She looked like an archer with a short bow lying beside her. With her equipment, she must had been an ordinary adventurer but her aura told him otherwise.

The town people took care of the unconscious woman and tried to cure her. Cloud saw his client walking toward him and was reminded of the delivery slip he was holding.

"Hey, Cloud! Did you bring the turbo ether for me?" It was Sebastian, one of the townspeople.

"Yes. Here it is." Cloud handed the turbo ether with the delivery document to sign.

"Thanks." Sebastian returned the signed document. "Lots of strange things happen here so I'm not surprised with some girl being unconscious."

Cloud looked back to the woman who was starting to regain consciousness. As Cloud paced toward the woman, his phone rang.

"Cloud, are you finished to deliver the turbo ether to Mr. Wilson?" It was a call from Seventh heaven, the voice was from a woman he had known for years.

"Yes." Cloud answered.

"We are really bustling with customers right now. I hope you can lend us a hand." Tifa was hoping a positive response from Cloud.

"What can I do?"

"Can you please deliver some spices and eggs? The orders are piling up." Cloud felt the worried tone from Tifa's voice.

"Okay. I will get some then." Cloud ended the call. He thought he must hurry or Tifa will be disappointed.

He tried to change some things after the events with Kadaj and reunion with Sephiroth. He was ready to move on and start a positive life once again.

Cloud set out to return to Seventh heaven.

The lifestream guardian who was now in a young woman's body was trying to take control of itself. The soul of the young woman was now temporarily in the lifestream. I will just borrow the body for a bit. You will be rewarded of course. The lifestream guardian tried to communicate to the young woman's soul.

The townspeople were starting to ask questions to the young woman who had just regained consciousness.

"What's your name? Are you alright?" The inn shopkeeper asked.

_Name…_ The lifestream guardian looked to nearby things thinking of a name. The bow beside it had a carved word "Anya" on it. It could be the name of the bow or the owner. Whichever it was, the lifestream guardian liked it.

"Anya. And I'm alright. You shouldn't be worrying about me." The lifestream guardian who named itself as Anya stood up as if nothing happened. The man he was after already left and she should make haste.

Anya tracked Cloud's path which led her to the City of edge's Seventh Heaven. As she walked in, she was greeted by a little cute girl who guided her in and assisted her to her seat. It was full of customers and truly noisy for her. She scanned the room to see Cloud but there was no trace of him.

_Ugh. I can't stand the noise in here._ Anya was about to leave when he heard someone spoke to her.

"Aren't you the woman who was unconscious at Kalm?"

It was Cloud. The one she was looking for.

"Yes. I am that woman. Do you have a minute?"

Cloud felt an unfamiliar aura surrounding the woman. Intrigued, he agreed to talk to her.

They both went outside. Tifa who was busy serving the customers caught a glimpse of them talking and going outside. She felt strange but ignored it as she was occupied with the customers.

"I'll get straight to the point. I am here because I was looking for you." Anya told Cloud with a stern look. "I'm here to fulfill a wish. You must know by now that I'm not from this world."

This explained all the oddity that Cloud felt with this woman. But he was still unsure if she can be trusted. _Is she an ally or an enemy?_

"I'm an ally."

Cloud darted an astonished look at Anya. _She can read my mind?_ It might be possible so he thought he should be careful around this woman.

"You're here to fulfill a wish?"

"Yes. And it could be your wish too."

Cloud was starting to get lost. He was intrigued to know who this strange person was.

"Do you have someone dear who was lost?"

This question pulled some strings to Cloud's delicate heart. He could only think of one woman.

"I can bring that person back. Just say the word. And I'll bring that person back."

Cloud's memories began to play in his head. He shook his head and returned to reality. He just can't believe what this woman was saying. It was impossible. There was no way someone could bring Aerith back.

"It's hard to trust, right? I won't force you. I will give you time to think."

Cloud was silent.

"Until we meet again." Anya walked away from Cloud. She faded in the shadows.

_Bringing Aerith back...It would be a dream come true but I don't know if I can trust that woman._

As Cloud walked back to Seventh Heaven, he saw Tifa standing not too far from where they were. She could have heard everything….or not. He was hesitant to ask but it looked like there was no need to do it.

"Who is that woman?" Tifa asked Cloud while her arms were crossed on her chest.

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_**A/N:**_ Thank you for reading Chapter 2! Please let me know what you think about the story so far. Reviews and story follows are greatly appreciated~ Please come back for Chapter 3! Thank you!


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